Breach
by cottontaildwarf
Summary: "Isn't it glaringly obvious? He's displayed proficiency for perfect drift-compatibility with four different betas in one sitting. Either they're all exactly the same, or he's got nothing inside." Percy-centric.
1. I

**I**

"Up! _Now!_" The fierce instructor slammed the spear shaft against the concrete a third time. For whatever reason, the reverberation did not seem to affect him at all, leaving him to constantly recreate the ringing noise beside the heads of fallen trainees.

A loud grunt came from the boy propped up on his hands and feet, stopped in mid-pushup. The room was silent except for the sound of light huffing and subtle flickering of the lights. He lowered himself down to the ground before bouncing back up twice as quickly onto his feet.

He stretched his arms out in front of him and cracked his neck on either side before standing perfectly straight, his head tilted upwards and away from the instructor. Both of them stood still for a few moments in a meaningful silence.

"It's been – what, four years?" The older man stepped in front of the boy with his threatening build and glared down at him. "You're a fucking disgrace." His trainee did not reply or even acknowledge that he had said anything, only concentrated at a point on the wall in front of him. "Four years, not so much as a _peep_ out of you – what, too scared of a little danger?"

_Too scared of a little rationality?_ "Permission to be dismissed, sir."

"Permission not fucking granted. Back down, give me forty." The boy exhaled through his nose before dropping down on all fours and pushing himself up. He let out a hiss of strain at the sudden ache he could feel was very present in his arms and torso. "Getting tired already?"

_For Christ's sake, shut up._ "No, sir."

"You'd better not, you half-baked pansy."

_Back to the name calling, are we?_ He stood again and had to resist the urge to make murderous eye contact with his superior.

"How long are you with me for?"

"I don't know, sir."

"Oh, you don't know, huh?" He circled the soldier like a prowling tiger, except less graceful and much more bulky. "Tell me, _Jordan_, is there anything you _do_ know?"

_Jackson._

"The differences between a category three and a category four?" The black-haired male almost flinched. "How to drift without incapacitating your partner?" He clenched his jaw. "Or maybe, you might know how to pilot a Mark Two instead of watching as three hundred children plummet to the depths—"

_Son of a bitch. _The boy's fist was at his throat before he even realized he had moved – but he somehow managed to evade and slam him to the ground with the lead pipe in his hand. There was a defined crack as he hit the ground, followed by a low groan.

"Was that an _assault_, soldier?" The instructor raised his weapon in hand as if to beat the boy with it, but was cut off by the sound of a less bad-tempered baritone.

"That'll be enough, Director." The instructor glanced at the doorway behind him before turning and standing in the same disciplined stance. In rolled an older individual with graying hair in a wheelchair, the look in his eyes betraying his image of harmlessness.

A few feet behind the director the other boy wheezed as he stood, clutching at his lower left torso before he stood up straight, showing no sign of pain. The old man looked the boy over as distaste flickered across his face. "Clarisse,"

"Yes, sir," The bulkier woman behind the high-ranking official stepped forward and uncrossed her arms.

"Assist Mr. Perseus Jackson on his way to the medical ward. Director, please stay here."

"Yes, sir." The two addressees chorused.

Clarisse waited by the door as the boy she was to help stumbled towards it, clutching at his side. "You're breathing pretty loudly," She observed, holding his forearm as he took his time getting down the three steps to the hallway. "He knock you against a wall or something?"

He managed to cough up a chuckle. "Pipe."

"_Pipe?_ You _bloody_ serious?" She glanced back at the room with a shocked expression on her face. They stopped in front of two clear glass doors and she pushed one open for him to walk through. She helped him hop onto a medbed and was promptly shooed out by the medical staff.

"Wonderful. Percy, again," One of the masked men called to someone behind a curtain. He was handed a clipboard – "Sign this, Jackson," – and after handing it back, began to apply pressure to the patient's chest. "Fractured rib," He called after a moment. There was shuffling behind the white curtain again.

"New gulls?"

"Moved from the Hong Kong Dome," The doctor replied. "And don't call them that. The uniform was designed by my daughter." He called out a few other scientific phrases the boy didn't recognize. "And why the hell are you talking?"

Percy groaned as the man applied more pressure than was necessary. Three gulls waddled out with a medical cart. "We'll just d-drain some blood," One of the female nurses stuttered, looking uncomfortable with coming too close to him.

"Drain away." He rasped, closing his sea-green eyes.

Three pokes in the wrong place and one spilled tray later, the injured trainee was kicked out of the medical ward to return to his room by himself with a clear bag of painkillers in his hand. "Jackson, get your act together," The doctor called. "We have _real_ trainees we need to save supplies for." He waved without looking back and turned a corner.

Two girls, both a year younger than him, were walking in the opposite direction. When they noticed him they both stopped and saluted respectfully. "Sir."

"At ease," He waved and continued walking. The girls waited until he passed to resume their own conversations and keep walking. He ran the hand that wasn't clutching plastic through his hair. He briefly wondered why he was receiving this kind of respect, before walking into a railing to one of the rooms and _possibly_ damaging his self further. "Fucking—"

"_Please_ mind your language."

Percy rolled his eyes and turned to face the speaker. "Octavian." He greeted curtly, ready to turn back around and keep heading towards his room that was a mere two doors away—

"That's vice-captain Octavian to you, Perseus."

Clearly, the promotion was supposed to get a visual reaction from Percy, but he'd be damned if he let the weasel have the satisfaction. "Congrats."

"You're to report in the meeting room."

Percy stopped. "I'm injured."

"Really." The curly-haired blonde checked his nails. "I hadn't noticed. We're to be there in two minutes, so if you'll just find your own way there…I'd hate to have to carry you." With that, he turned on his prissy heel and sashayed away.

The green-eyed male glanced at his door longingly. "_Damn _it." He spun around and headed in the same direction Octavian had gone.

_**P**_

Thirty-three trainees in all, lined up in three rows all facing the command station in saluting form. All well disciplined and (ideally) well-rounded, the top trainees from all the world's Shatterdomes coalesced here to face the new threat.

"I'm sure you all know what that threat is," The old man was saying, rolling back and forth in his wheelchair. "But for appearances' sake, we'll brief everyone. You all know the Wall of Life that majority of our funds have been going to for the past four years is almost completed." The few 'huh's that resounded made the commander relieved he had decided to go over everything.

"However, three days ago, the wall was breached in Taiwan by a category two Atlas, with the closest Jaeger, here." This was a story that had already appeared on the news. "We were lucky that there was a bomb blast at the top of the utterly useless wall—" a cough from one of his private agents was ignored, "—that managed to weaken the Titan so that it only destroyed a small portion of the city before _Apollo_ could take it down."

Cheers erupted throughout the meeting room for the famed half-triplets, Lee, Michael, and Will, who piloted the three-man ship with flawless synchrony. The three bowed in unison before returning to an attentive stance with the rest of the room.

"The wall is now considered by us to be a secondary measure; not protection, like it was meant to be, but something to slow down the enemy while we reach it. Because I am sure you are all aware, we are low on Jaegers in quantity and skill. The reason we've all gathered here is to distribute the Jaegers between you, and to replace some. You will then be sent to new sectors to monitor the shores.

"From this moment on, _I _am your new one and only battle commander. All of your status and titles have been reset and _none_ of you are guaranteed a spot as a pilot. We only need the best, and I will filter you out the way I see fit. Is all of that clear?"

"Yes, sir." They chorused.

"Alright." Clarisse joined the group of standing students. "Get into one long line around the mat, all of you."

"Sir."

The day was to go as follows: the first match was random and two people were to fight each other until one conceded or reached six points. The winner would remain on the mat until defeated by someone else, who would then take their place.

The first match went by embarrassingly quickly. The two were unevenly matched. One was Beckendorf, one of the co-pilots of _Hephaestus_, a beefy brawler who'd been out in the field for a year and a half. His opponent was a girl a year younger, one who had been in the training program for two years and was half her match's size.

The moment the match commenced, the two of them stared at each other for a moment, before the shorter Bianca nervously stepped forward with her ready stance. The darker skinned boy patiently awaited her first move. After taking a deep breath, she pushed off her back leg and aimed her left fist at his neck, but it was too predictable of a move.

He shot out his arm and got to her before she could get to him, using her momentum to lift her off the ground and slam her into the mat behind him. She let out a low moan, bruised but not too hurt. She was helped off the mat by her friend on the side and sat at the end of the line to watch the others.

The next in line introduced himself before stepping up to the mat. "Lee Fletcher, pilot for two years, _Apollo_." Like his siblings he had a short and lean figure and wore the standard uniform for pilots, a grey neutralizing suit that regulated his body temperature. He leaned back on his heels and looked up at his friend. "Beckendorf," He greeted.

"_Lee_," The taller boy replied, settling into a boxer's position. Unlike with his last match, the moment it began he pushed off and towards the smaller boy staring at him. Smaller meant faster and if he was going to win, he'd need to strike first.

"Whoa," Lee dropped to his knees and bent backwards, avoiding the punch that had been on its way to his face. The move caused Beckendorf to trip and he began to fall face-forward onto where Lee had been before he rolled out. He managed to land on his forearms but was smacked down when Lee hopped onto his back from the side, subduing him completely.

"Yeah, we're not gonna be partners," Charles muttered while trying to sit up. His opponent laughed and remained standing on the mat.

"Michael Yew, two years' pilot, _Apollo_." Aside from the darker shade of eyes and hair, Michael looked exactly like his older half-brother. He grinned as they both fell into the same beginning position.

They ran at each other in a storm of limbs and laughs, falling apart a random moments before reengaging in combat. The complicated fight ended with Michael in a chokehold. Lee helped his brother stand. "Twenty-two moves. _Pretty_ chill."

His brother massaged his jaw. "Ha ha," He replied sarcastically, rejoining the line.

The youngest brother went next and lost in twenty moves to an arm-bar. He flexed the bruised limb while walking to join his other brother at the end of the line, muttering about still being the weakest of the three of them.

"Percy Jackson, trainee." The laughs in the room subsided as the green-eyed boy's voice cut through them. He dropped a small bag at the edge of the mat before stepping on.

"Percy," Lee gave the boy a friendly smile, waving from his side of the square. "It's been so long. Have you been training?"

"You're about to find out," He promised, before crossing the mat in two lightning speed strides and aiming a kick at the other boy's head.

The older boy barely dodged as he dropped down to a crouch. "Holy sh–" He hopped up again to dodge the punch that seemed to be waiting for him, but not fast enough. It didn't make its mark on his torso, but instead slammed him in the gut. He stumbled back and swore. "You _have_." He answered his own question.

"Apparently, so have you." Percy pushed himself back onto his feet, taking care not to jostle his torso too much. "I'm not taking you down in three moves anymore."

"I think that was a _long_ time ago." Lee pounced on him but was knocked off almost immediately and had to roll away to avoid being stepped on.

"Yeah, beat his ass, Percy!"

Lee glared at his last opponent. "Nice to know I've got my _blood_ on my side!" He'd just finished his sentence when he had to roll again and jump backwards. Percy was advancing too fast and with two fighters with as wide moves as them, the small box of a mat was an insanely tight fit.

Grunting, Lee flipped back onto his hands and launched himself feet first into Percy's torso, knocking the taller boy down onto his back. Before anyone could call for them to stop Percy had flipped them and flipped them again, turning so fast that the brunet was still dazed when he realized he was caught in a scarf hold.

"_Fuck_," He swore so loud that they almost couldn't hear the Commander yell a stop. Percy bit his lip to keep from laughing as Lee hopped off the mat and joined his brothers in line. He couldn't help the chuckle that escaped his lips when he smacked Will upside the head.

The next boy stepped onto the mat.

"Luke Castellan." The green-eyed boy snapped to attention, eyes widening at the sight of the boy he hadn't noticed before. His mouth ran dry and his stomach churned. He stepped back. "Pilot, five years. _Hermes_, formerly _River Styx_." He smiled at Percy. "Long time no see, ex-partner."

_Don't usually leave notes, but thanks for reading. Just an idea, don't know if I'll continue._

_Thanks for reading._

_~ctd_


	2. II

**II**

The Kwoon Combat Room was so quiet one could hear the light breathing of the two fighters who had fought last.

The blond shrugged off his jacket and tossed it aside. There was a collective gasp from the three people in line behind him at the sight of his bare shoulders. Three ugly lines marked from his right shoulder down, down, disappearing beneath his shirt.

His opponent's eyes followed the scars down to where he couldn't see them anymore. It took a little bit of effort to tear his eyes away from them and up to his face. "Luke," he managed, standing up straighter and opening his stance a little more.

"Percy," He replied, donning the same smile. His Spanish accent was still there, but just barely. "How long you been back?" He lowered himself to three quarters of his original height with one fist in front of him, one at his side.

"Not long." The green eyed boy copied his position.

There was an almost inaudible exhale from the blond before he brought his lowered fist around to close the distance between them. Percy fell backwards and brought one leg up to stop the arm aimed at where his side had been. There was a small _pop_ as Luke's elbow clicked out of place.

The blue-eyed boy backed up and massaged the part of his arm while the other pushed off his hands to land on his feet. He hissed at the obvious strain he was putting on himself. If he punctured a lung in the middle of a match—

"Eyes on me," Luke popped into his field of vision and the black-haired boy instinctively threw up one arm to protect his face, just fast enough for Luke to make contact with a forearm and not a jaw. With his other arm Percy grabbed Luke's right wrist and turned, pushing the blond into a bend if he didn't want to dislocate an arm as well.

In a moment of desperation he swung out a leg and fortunately knocked Percy off-balance, giving the shorter boy an opportunity to slam him to the ground. He raised his now-free arm to pound the boy, but was stopped.

"Enough," The command was sudden but still impossible to disobey. Confused, the two combatants stood and saluted the man who had spoken.

"Commander Chiron," The shorter boy spoke, addressing the most important man in the room. "Is something wrong?"

"Not with you," The frail man stroked his chin in thought, staring pointedly at the other fighter.

Percy's eyebrow twitched. "Have I done something wrong, sir?"

The long seconds between the question and the answer were enough for Percy's heart rate to jump. "Not quite. The two of you, in my office. Director Dionysus, I'm sure you can judge a few matches without me?"

"Course I can." They hadn't even left the room when Dionysus called the next two up on to the mat.

"Eager," Chiron muttered. He held up his card to a scanner on the door and let himself into his gargantuan office. "Close the door behind you." Luke obeyed silently. The two sat down in the chairs in front of the Commander.

"You said you piloted the _River Styx_?" Both looked up at their superior.

"Yes, sir." Luke replied. "Co-pilot for one year."

"With Perseus Jackson?"

"Yes, sir."

"Perseus, why did you label yourself a trainee?"

Percy clenched his jaw. "I _am_ a trainee, sir."

"You are a pilot—"

"I _was_ a pilot, four years ago. I haven't trained at all since then, haven't dropped, haven't even seen a Titan in all those years." His hand balled into a fist in his lap. "I am as inexperienced as I was when first entering the Jaeger Academy."

The old man flipped a file open on his desk rather loudly, startling Luke. He went through the pages so quickly, neither of the combatants were sure he was even reading them.

"It says here—"

_So he _had_ been reading them._

"—that you skipped three years of training and jumped straight to being a pilot after a year." The sandy haired blond's eyes widened. He had known that Percy was much younger than he was thought to be, but _three years…_ "I feel as though you say trainee, but you would be ready to drop at any moment."

"I feel you are wrong, sir." Ever the rebellious soldier. "There was a reason I left the service."

Both boys fell silent at that, staring solemnly at a plaque above the commander's head. He watched as the two of them, in perfect synchronization, rested their heads on one hand and waited impatiently for the superior to spit out whatever he wanted to say.

"We're doing a simulation," He snapped them out of their reverie with one screech of his metal wheels. "Right now." He was out the door so quickly that they had to jog to keep up.

"Sir—" Luke earned a gloance from the man as acknowledgement that he was listening. "I don't – I don't think that's a good idea." He slowed. "We haven't…"

"I haven't drifted in the past four years, and the last time I did so, it didn't end up so well. I'm sure you already know."

"Frankly, Perseus," The old man slowed a little beside them to keep them at his heels. "It does not matter. You have already engaged with Luke Castellan in the past, and you two piloted a Mark Two." He seemed to be uncharacteristically serious. "It will be better for you to smooth things out and get back into the habit of things."

_For Christ's sake. _"I don't think I should."

"Perseus."

"Sir, I agree with him."

"Both of you." He screeched to a halt angrily. The boys kept walking for two steps before turning around to face the commander. "What kind of cowards are you that you can't even speak to one another without one of you having a panic attack? Were these the kinds of fools that the Academy sent to us in our prime?"

Neither of them answered, only stared at him like scolded children. They understood what he was saying and what he thought they were doing wrong, but none of them had the attention to acknowledge or admit their flaw, much less fix it. They looked away from their teacher's eyes.

"Keep walking. I need to do a test run on you two." They turned a corner. "You were the best pilots in all of Sydney. I can't believe you're the same pair that fought off three Category Two Titans all at once." He shook his head.

"With all due respect, that was a long time ago."

"Back when you were younger with less experience and less intelligence. Now you are better and stronger and you have a world to protect."

The pair scoffed in unison at the statement, sounding a little too close to what they heard army advertisements say in times of war – how the world needed them and what they could offer and that only they were capable of taking up the responsibility that was saving mankind.

Their action of mild disrespect did not go unnoticed by Chiron, but he said nothing. The door they stopped in front of opened up with a hiss and a puff of cold steam, sliding to reveal the hangar.

The hangar – the home of the Jaegers, a sort of high class garage for them to get repaired and restocked to work better for their pilots. The gigantic machines lined the walls in pockets full of people on ladders and painting booths. Their voices mixed with the sounds of a hundred different kinds of things dropping, fire searing, metal carving and rewiring.

No matter how many times he walked in, Percy never failed to be completely in awe of the gargantuan machines that could be controlled by men a fraction of their size. He stared at one for too long apparently, but only attracted a man who thought he was impressed – which he was, but not completely in a good way.

The scrappy machine was equipped with guns and cannons and missile launchers, adding even more to its intimidating figure besides the spikes on its knees, elbows, and shoulders. "What is that _beast_?"

It was a good thing he had used a neutral word to describe the monstrous machine, for the man thought he was complimenting it and patted Percy on the shoulder. "It's a Mark Seven. One of the three newest Jaegers and probably one of the last." He pointed up to where a name was emblazoned on its chest. _Ares_.

"Like the god of war?"

"Exactly like the god of war." The mechanic grinned a suspicious smile before returning to work.

"Jackson, you coming?" The blue eyed boy called from up ahead where they were already disappearing in the masses.

"Yeah," Percy replied, jogging over to the duo waiting for him. He, as always, avoided eye contact with the boy beside him, as did Luke. Neither of them felt right talking to each other for one reason or another and would not do so unless ordered to or if it was completely necessary.

Almost as soon as he reunited with them he was pulled aside by one of the mechanics in charge of naval commands for Jaegers and was forced to put on the protective body armour. The dresser looked at him strangely for a moment before dressing him as if nothing had happened.

"Trainee?" He had an American accent, a rare find at the dome. Americans usually never made it far in the Jaeger program.

"Yeah."

The man grunted as he adjusted a tight strap across Percy's torso. "You're kind of small for an ex-pilot." He commented indifferently, stepping back to look over his work. "Gimme a twirl." Used to the suspicious outfitters' antics, Percy obeyed and gave the man a manly twirl. "Right. You'd better head over."

Percy stood for a second like an abandoned child as the man began to walk away. "Uh, where am I going?"

"It's on your chest, newbie." He called back. "Third suit on your right."

A short jog in the pointed direction brought him into a separate room with only a handful of people. Luke was already inside, fixing the bands on his wrist and pulling on his gloves. He looked up at Percy, a formal greeting on his tongue; upon recognizing who he was, he only gave a simple nod.

"Hey," He greeted both his partner and his senior. "What's that?" His green eyes took in the sight of the white egg-shaped pod in front of him. It was a casing filled with some kind of clear gel, attached to hundreds of wires coming out on both sides. And it was just large enough for two people to lay down inside.

"Well? I can see by your unwilling expression that you've figured out what it is. Get in." One of the bespectacled doctors on the side exhaled loudly from his nose and waited with a clipboard and a pen in a way he probably thought was intimidating.

Luke was the first one to get in, always ready to trust people in charge, and sank into the gel. Percy judged by the stiffness of his limbs that he was actually really freaked out, and sneered before following suit.

"It's a good thing you both fit. We might have had to have the two of you lay on top of each other if you didn't fit."

Choosing to ignore the comment, the older boy called out, "Why aren't we using the other simulator?"

"New technology. We need to try it out on someone." Both boys immediately tried to sit up but were locked in place by the soft solution. "You're already locked, boys. It won't hurt you or anything, we just need someone to tell us if the images are believable."

_Like hell. _

Neither of the two relaxed. The other four people in the room gave a collective sigh.

"Alright, doctor. What else do you need?" Chiron's voice came muffled through the gel.

"We're ready to start, sir. I just need a quick moment to start this up…" The sound of rapid typing echoed through the room. "Alright, ready when you are."

The room held its breath.

"Are you boys ready?" The question came slowly to the pair, as if they had a choice to answer. The only answer was 'yes' and there was a limited time in which they had to give it.

Both of them were surprised that the other had not replied hastily.

Four years of memories, he had to be ready to bare to someone else. _Again_. All he could do was replay the images in his mind from the last time he had ever drifted over and over again.

Luke had seen everything in Percy's head numerous times, and vice versa, but there was a lot neither of them were even remotely close to being ready to discuss. The scars on the blond's side, for one. Percy's new status, another.

He stared straight up at the ceiling expressionlessly.

_At least it's not someone else._

"Got that right."

_Wow, did I just say that out loud?_ He mentally facepalmed.

"Ready." They chorused, eyes burning holes in the white geometric patterns on the ceiling.

"Alright, this is how it's going to go. You'll be piloting the _River Styx_ in the simulation. For now, we're just going to replay K-Day, the attack in San Francisco in 2013, with the category three Oceanus. You'll have to engage him after he gets to the shore."

"Initiating neural handshake in three, two, one," Someone counted off and the pod slid closed.

"Oh my _go—_"

"Drifting." A voice boomed in their minds, shocking their attentions away from the fact that they were trapped in a jelly-filled pod together. Less than half a moment later, the pressure of brains being squeezed hit them hard, harder than it was the first time either of them had drifted.

It was layer after layer of pain, pain, pain, until it switched from physical to mental. Or maybe they had just passed out.

There was numbness, a feeling of some sort of euphoria, before the mental barriers broke and their thoughts pooled together all at once like a broken dam.

A flush of emotions too strong not to be their own but still foreign. A flood of memories so vivid they had to be their own but still were not.

Perseus saw himself, a million scenes of his body doing things he remembered he had. Yet he felt detached – he felt as if that _wasn't_ his body, but some kind of other figure he was only watching from afar. Like he was watching a movie he was part of, but not really.

He was almost swept away by the drift current before it came back to him that _these were Luke's memories._ He tore himself from the flow and kept his distance as everything warped around him.

_Thanks for reading._

_~ctd_


	3. III

**III**

It felt like hours later when he sensed Luke had also disconnected, and then the connection was pulled

up between them.

_You alright?_ Percy asked, checking for his connection and his sanity.

He suddenly felt anxiety, more than he had ever felt before, rush through him in devastating waves. It

was soon followed by fear, and confusion, and nausea. He felt as if he was going to pass out. And again there

was that uncomfortable feeling of something foreign inside of him.

_Luke, calm down. _

"_I am." _

_You're shoving your emotions down my throat._ Experimentally, he let himself grow overly pissed off at

how the emotions did not cease at his command.

"_Why am I annoyed?" _

_Because _I'm_ annoyed._ The fear and nausea diminished, but more confusion took their place. _This is so _

_much more than a normal drift calls for. _

"Luke Castellan, Perseus Jackson,"

"_What?"_ The blonde growled, still trying to embody a form beside Percy.

"The connection was established successfully," The voice said, annoyance leaking in. It seemed to be

feminine, now that they could hear it more clearly. "If Mr. Castellan could hurry and decide what he would like

to look like–"

"_I am,"_ He cut her off just as the voice became a body. Luke stood beside the green-eyed boy in his full

gear, looking very annoyed and twice as uncomfortable. _"What are we doing?" _

_This is not what we thought we were going to do. _

"Sorry Mr. Jackson, but you'll have to finish the test before we hear any more boo-hooing from you.

Now, to begin the test." They felt the white expanse around them suddenly box into shape. A room. "Where are

you?"

_Inside a room._ There was more sarcasm in the statement than he intended to show.

A few moments later the room changed shape again into a cylindrical tube with a body-sized space between the two boys. Slowly, the room darkened and gained new accessories; the boys changed from standing on flat ground to being suspended in foot-sized pedestals and propped up with wires. They were inside the helmet of a Jaeger.

Before them, the space slowly shifted into a transparent glass, showing them a sunny day at the bay outside.

"And now?"

"_San Francisco,"_ Luke answered, peering at the image with sharp eyes. All around them, the day was quiet. For a metropolis this large, San Francisco was one of those quiet kind of cities, with nothing but a low hum of car horns in the background. It was all realistic. Frighteningly so.

"Obviously since we did not have any Jaegers at the time of the attack, it will be very different. People won't be looking for saviours, they'll be screaming and crying and, to put it bluntly, getting in your way constantly. Your job is to eliminate the threat with minimal loss of life."

"Can we move yet?"

"Not yet. Your legs are set to breach with _River Styx _when the Atlas comes on shore."

The pilots looked down at themselves. It was a habit every regular had – when finding yourself in a Jaeger, perform all the regular checks on the equipment, whether in a simulation or as a backup or in a practice run. As expected, there was nothing for them to do.

"Everything's already been set," The voice told them. "The simulation is slightly influenced by your own thoughts, so the suit has been tuned to how you would normally have it."

"_A little creepy, but I'll take it." _Luke said, leaning over to look at the time above his head. He always set the clock a little too far. _"What time was it again?"_

"The Titan will breach city limits in about forty seconds."

_What the—_

"_Right arm!" _Luke called from the right side and immediately, both of them lifted said appendage. In their field of vision, the Mark Two looking stunningly new. Percy whistled, before they went through the motions.

_Left arm._ They held out the other arm, then brought both of them to the side. Beside him, Luke was already breathing lightly. _What's up with you?_

"_I've been piloting a Mark Six for the past four years," _Luke replied, glancing over at his ex-partner. _"I forgot how heavy these things were, compared to the other ones."_

_Hmm._ They both fisted their hands just as a deafening cry shattered the stillness of the city. It was quiet and then collectively, the screams began. First appearing on the right side of the bay, A flurry of waves pounded against the shore at six times their normal height as the Atlas erupted from its watery cover.

_Holy fuck_.

They were unable to move and watched as it destroyed the entire coastline without even stepping on it, sending tidal wave after tidal wave ramming into the skyscrapers. It's roars drowned out the cries of the people on the ground, so small and helpless and stricken by fear that half of them just froze and stared at the threat in shock.

When the beast finally took one step onto the rocks, they actually felt _senses_ return to their legs. _"Right foot!"_ The blonde shouted and, suddenly, a wall of angry metal hurtled through the narrow streets and hurled itself at the armoured Titan.

It saw them first. Cutting itself off mid-cry, it lowered itself down to all fours and began running at them like a furious bull, eager to destroy them at the halfway mark.

In perfect synchronization they pulled themselves down and off the ground in a knee rattling jump, slamming the right arm down onto the Atlas' head and the other arm into a backbone they weren't sure it had. The beast pushed them back a few meters before getting its face rammed into the asphalt.

Percy's side arm came up and slammed back down onto the skull, snapping _something._

"_Readying—"_

_No cannons!_ Percy cut off, putting the Jaeger in a state of confusion for a half-second. _The people – remember? They don't know what to do!_

The blue eyed blond's eyes went wide. He couldn't risk blinding them and try to turn his head to see the wreckage they had undoubtedly caused behind them, but he could imagine it. Thousands of people crushed beneath their feet, killed by an unseeing ally.

"_Fucking shit,_" He muttered, glaring down at the beast as if its battered skull could see it.

Up until now, their emotions had been relatively the same so that they didn't hinder each other. Percy, who was calm to a point, felt the emotions that got a pilot killed suddenly flood his mind. _LUKE! _He yelled, actually turning to look at him.

He could see everything his partner was getting ready to do – from anger and fear sprouts brutality and panic. The mantra they had always recited before a drop replayed in his mind but the blond was too emotional to comprehend it. His own coherency was crushed in an instant.

The Jaeger's digits unclenched and grabbed on tightly to both sides of the squirming Titan's head. One leg cam up and fixated itself onto its shoulder, holding it back.

"_Lean!_" Luke grunted, pulling back the weight. Percy mirrored his action completely. Both of them could feel the stress on their sides build up from such an energy-wasting activity.

One of its numerous hands came up around their side and grasped at Percy's side's elbow, crushing it in its grasp. Percy felt himself give a shriek of pain but couldn't hear nor feel it when faced with the eardrum shattering noise of a beast this large screaming in his face.

Luke's head snapped to look at his partner who's arm was under twice as much pressure as his was, before he finally pulled back hard enough.

_Don't fail me now_, the green-eyed pilot thought, pulling back with his uninjured arm as hard as he could.

There was one more cry from the beast before his head tore from his shoulders and sent them flying back into a building. The rest of its body collapsed onto the street, immobile.

_**P**_

It was blurry when he woke up, drowning in a puddle of his own sweat. He was prevented from sitting up suddenly and worsening his headache by leather straps that kept his legs, waist, torso, and essentially his entire body immobile. He closed his eyes again and furrowed his brows, trying to remember what had happened last.

"About time, Aurora."

_Of course. _"Sometimes your knowledge of Disney Princesses disturbs me," Percy replied to his roommate. He lifted his head as best he could to look at the boy on the bed across from him. "What are we doing here?"

"Just because I woke up first doesn't mean I have all the answers," He said, sipping at something in his cup. He slurped just to annoy Percy, who rolled his eyes uncaringly but could not hide the irritated twitching of his brows. The blond laughed. "But I'm guessing it has something to do with the simulation thing they wanted us to do."

The green-eyed male found it difficult to even recall the memories surrounding the statement.

"I know. I can barely remember anything, either." Luke pointed at the food filled tray beside his roommate's bed. "They literally just brought that in for you. You should eat it – comatose patients get better food than the freaking commanding officers."

Percy glanced over and took the little bread bun, the only thing he could eat with his hands that did not require munching effort. It took him a minute to prop himself up on the pillows but then he was sitting up comfortably and facing his ex-partner.

They both were quiet for a bit. There was a lingering topic between them that they could either blatantly avoid or actually bring up. Percy didn't know which choice he feared more.

"Why did you leave?" And suddenly, the choice became clear.

Luke's big blue eyes looked tired and suddenly dull. He was watching Percy with complete attention, nothing in his hands or his mouth. With those four words he suddenly revealed how many times he had thought of that very question and had tried to come up with an answer.

The younger boy found that he could not just brush him off. He turned the bread over in his hands absentmindedly, not even thinking about it, and stared at an embroidered flower on Luke's pillow.

"I'm serious – you can't just ignore me. I swear I will fucking _beat_ it out of you if I have to." His voice always seemed a bit raspier when he was angry, and the edge made him sound infuriated. Percy met his gaze, but he took too long to find the words. "You know, Percy, I never – not even _once_ – thought you were the kind of guy that would ditch out on the pilot program."

The statement was so honest it stabbed at his inner being. "Looks like you were wrong."

He snorted. "Yeah. It does. Now answer the fucking question."

"I couldn't live with myself. I still can't."

"What, because of what happened in Taiwan?" The almost unnoticeable tremor in Luke's voice was a dead giveaway. Percy's eyes shot to what was visible of the scars marring the side of his once best friend's neck and then set themselves to stare at a blemish on the tiled floor. "Don't look at me like that."

"I try not to." Percy replied, tearing his gaze away and up to the pilot's face. "And I think you understand."

"No. No, I don't understand, because this was the answer that I told myself every time I thought of this, and you know what? This is some supreme bullshit because this was and still is not the answer that I want."

"Then what _do_ you want?"

"I want you to grow some balls and admit that you were scared!"

"I did! We weren't even out of the fucking Jaeger and I told you I couldn't handle it! I told you!"

"You told me _shit_!" He threw his plastic cup and made a dent in the wall where Percy's head had been a moment before." You needed to take therapy sessions because you didn't let anyone help you and instead you just let it rot inside."

"Yes! Exactly! Don't throw your shit at me!" He threw the bread roll and it made its mark on the blond's forehead. "I took those sessions because you wanted me to, not because Chiron said so. When have I ever done what he said?"

His ex partner's mouth was open and he seemed ready to say something, but the fire in his eyes died almost as quickly as it had been kindled.

Percy's hand was firm around the apple on his tray, ready to launch something immediately if the blond felt the need to reengage in aerial combat. Luke leaned back into the pillows set up for him, not breaking eye contact with Percy.

"So you leaving. What was that? Suddenly grew a brain of your own?"

"Something like that." He wouldn't rise to the bait.

"Why'd you come back?" Percy raised an eyebrow. "Not that I'm complaining. Another ego to rival mine, ready to be crushed."

"Well, you guys seemed to need my help." Percy took a bite out of the Granny Smith. "We have, what, six usable Jaegers?"

"Eight," He corrected.

"Right. And in '16, we had twenty-nine. Anyway there was that, and the fact that I was promised I would never have to drop."

"_What?_ And you _still _came?"

Percy gave Luke a look. "Did my leaving send no message? I didn't want to fight, ever again. I still don't. I didn't belong in a suit then and I definitely don't now."

His companion looked at a loss. "You – it might've – you might've been a little young when you first entered, but seriously, you're an amazing pilot."

"Is that what they told the families of those who were killed?"

"Why can't you get over that?" He shouted angrily, then remembered himself. The full meaning of his words seemed to hit him a moment later when he met Percy's ashen gaze.

The green-eyed boy shrugged emotionlessly. "I guess I'm just sensitive."

"Sensitive? You?" They both rolled their eyes and leaned further into their pillows at the sound of that annoying feminine voice so early in the morning. "How are you doing?" The blonde walked over to the windows and screeched open the blinds, making both patients recoil from the light. "Wonderful."

"How was your rest?" Chiron asked, wheeling in, before staring pointedly at the bread in one's lap and the dent above the head of the other. "…Eventful, I see."

"So why don't we remember anything?" Percy asked, before feeling his roommate's gaze stab him from the side. "Sir." He added politely.

"It seems there was too much trauma for the two of you to handle," The blonde told them, checking things off her clipboard as she fussed around Luke. "You won't remember anything from during or before the simulation."

"I actually remember everything up until the pod closed," Percy snapped, just as a third officer stepped into the room.

He froze in the doorway before a smile graced his features. "Persassy has made his reappearance."

"Beckendorf!" The two bedridden boys chorused in greeting. The darker toned boy was stopped from entering any further by the Commander, who sent him away.

"He always manages to get you two off track," The old man shook his head and motioned for the blonde woman to continue.

"Because your body will have adjusted more," She switched sides of the room to go analyse Percy. "It will be much easier for you to remember what happened the second time that you go inside."


	4. IV

**IV**

"I think you're getting a little ahead of yourself," The sandy blond broke the awkward silence. "There will not be a second time."

"Agreed."

"No, _not _agreed," The other blonde glared at the green-eyed male as she hurried back over to the Commander's side. "You two were all for the drop the first time. This is a minor setback. Nothing has changed."

"_Nothing_?" Luke widened his eyes in mock-disbelief. "Piper, if you would please."

At his call, one of the nurses in the dove embroidered uniform walked in with her own stack of papers and began reading through the data on the charts. "There was temporary blindness and deafness, visual and auditory hallucinations, and a loss of taste and smell. Also he had bleeding from his nose, ears, eyes, and mouth. He lost feeling in his fingers and toes, he had paralysis in his legs, and that was all added to the fact that he was unconscious for nineteen hours."

Luke snapped his fingers in an arch above his head. The blonde rolled her eyes at his immaturity, but both she and Chiron were watching the nurse as she fearlessly asked, "Should I read Percy Jackson's charts?"

"That will be enough, Miss McLean." The finality in the oldest man's voice was enough for the girl to shuffle out of the room and shut the door behind her.

Percy met Luke's eyes. _I like her._ Luke wiggled his eyebrows as if he knew exactly what he was thinking. Both of them tilted their heads in confusion suddenly because Luke had _felt_ Percy's thoughts in his head, and Percy had felt the same.

"What's going on?" The blonde called from the side of the room. They had been watching the silent exchange from the side and it looked like she really couldn't handle being out of the loop any longer.

"Uhm—"

"We just agreed on something," Percy said, giving Luke a look he knew he would understand. "So, why are you guys here? Sir?"

"We came to tell you that the next test run is scheduled for when you are able to walk."

"What's the matter, Chiron? You're letting blondie do all the talking."

"Ex_cuse_ me—"

He cleared his throat, leaving said blonde to wallow in her indignation. "I feel it's about time you met her. This is Annabeth Chase. She's one of our researchers from Canada."

"_Canada?_ Never would've guessed."

"Clearly the kindness gene is not dominant in this one."

"What are you, twelve year olds?"

"I'm very sure Percy is at least a year older," The Spanish boy rubbed his chin thoughtfully, studying the boy in front of him. Experimentally, he sent him a thought: _Can you hear me?_

Percy's fist raised barely a centimeter above the blanket and bobbed twice before going back down. _Yeah_. The older boy heard the answer at the same time he saw it and found himself once again staring at his companion.

"In any case," The blonde – Annabeth – regained their attention. "We're probably going to be able to continue tomorrow." With that, she turned and exited the room, the lab coat almost catching in the doorway.

Chiron looked between the two boys, who seemed to be giving their full attention to him but at the same time seemed to be communicating with each other. Some sort of side effect, he presumed, of the intense neural bridging. "I expect you two to be there tomorrow night."

"With all due respect sir,"

"I highly doubt that."

"I won't be continuing with the test runs." The younger pilot finished easily, ignoring his superior's side comment.

"I won't, either." Luke rubbed his neck. "That was – it was a total invasion of privacy, and it was horribly difficult not to get caught up in the drift. If we hadn't been old friends–"

"But you _are _close friends."

Both of them looked shocked. "Chiron, that test was _insane._ We could see and feel and hear and experience everything about each other – there was absolutely nothing that we couldn't know if we tried to learn! If we'd gotten caught up, we would've been able to tap into _private memories_ and experiences–"

"The better your drifting."

Luke gaped at his response, stunned by how far the man wanted them to go for the sake of the experiment. He was about to make a snide, vulgar reply before Percy cut him off with a less compromising one.

"And now you want to bring a third person into this?"

Percy's question suddenly called attention. "What?" The other two chorused.

"The trauma was too much for two people. That's what she said, anyway. So I assumed we were going to do the same thing we did when the first tests happened? Add more people?"

Chiron looked proud for a fleeting moment before he, too, made his exit. "You will find out tomorrow."

"Oh, come on!" Luke called after him, cut off halfway through by the loud shutting of the door. He rubbed the back of his neck. "Gods, both of them are really annoying."

His ex-partner groaned and tried to drown himself in his pillows. "I can't even _begin _to think about what might happen the next time. I don't want to." _It was horrifying._

"It was," Luke agreed, then made a face.

Percy felt goose bumps rise on his skin. "We've gotta find a way to regulate that weirdness."

"Any ideas?"

He shrugged.

Luke sighed. "You know, you're making me wish I got caught up in the drift. I could've gotten an easy answer on why you left."

"There is no easy answer."

They proceeded to engage in a glaring contest, silently trying to wear each other down until a well-built girl Luke's age marched in wielding a bulging pack on her back. "What're you two idiots doing?" Her rough French accent was unique and unmistakable.

"Clarisse."

"Luke. Jackson."

The three exchanged partly-friendly greetings before the two boys fell into an impatient silence, wondering why the girl was in the med ward at this time of day. The birds were just beginning to chirp, resting on the exotic trees in the Dome's private greenhouse.

"I came to visit," She said, sitting on the stool by Percy's bedside. He raised an eyebrow. "Besides that, I came to tell you a few things about _River Styx._"

The pair immediately sat up as though she had brought up the topic of an injured child to a pair of worried mothers. "What about him?"

"The entire head of the Shatterdome is supremely pissed off at you, Luke. You didn't tell them that the Jaeger was tuned?"

Percy frowned. "He is?"

Luke mirrored his expression with mild skepticism. "I…didn't think it was that important at the time. It had been destroyed, mostly, and was almost worthless, so there really wasn't any point in revealing the fact." He shrugged. "Besides that, I thought that we were the only ones who were able to use it, anyway. Except for the three other pairs—"

"Yeah, except for the fact that the three other pairs have their own Jaegers. So we had an extra Jaeger we were ready to fill up with a new recruit and 'whabam' – he almost gets ultra-shocked by the brainwaves slamming into his brain."

"…Did he go at it alone or something?"

"No. He just touched the wiper panel and it fried off half an eyebrow." Percy's mouth involuntarily curled up at the thought. "Don't laugh, Jackson. It's just another excuse for them to hate you."

_How could anyone hate this face?_ He frowned. That sounded like Luke's voice in his head. Again.

"But, why would you want anyone new to try it out anyway? Wasn't there the minor detail of, um, possible exposure to harmful radiation?" Luke regained the attention of the girl his age. "I'm pretty sure that newbies only got the digitals."

"I don't know anything about that."

"_Riiiiiiiight."_

She offered Percy an irritated glare before continuing. "I'm just following orders. Something you seemed to be good at before Jackson got back."

The blond seemed eager to change the subject. "What about _Styx_? Is he completely fixed and usable?"

She sighed. "Ready to drop whenever you're up for it. The Taiwanese don't really care what we do as long as we don't destroy that private canal."

"Well _I'm _ready right now." Percy hopped off the bed. Thankfully the bed was right behind him, ready to catch him as he fell right back onto it. "What is this hangover?" He asked.

"I don't even know what that question means. But you just woke up, so I'm imagining you to be bedridden for a little bit. You won't be able to drop for some time after that too, I imagine. Why are you so eager to pilot all of a sudden?"

"Who said anything about piloting?" He rubbed a hand through his hair, gripping his head as if it would make the throbbing go away. "I'm not piloting for a long, long time. Never again, preferably."

The room became silent and the green-eyed boy chose to ignore the questioning gazes stabbing at his exterior. "What are you doing here, then?" Clarisse seemed genuinely confused for the first time he had ever seen.

"I was thinking about going into advising, or something. Maybe become an instructor. I didn't decide to come back, remember." He attempted to stand again and when the world began to tilt, he set to glaring down at his bare feet while regaining his balance.

Luke was staring at Percy, still speechless. Co-pilots. Partners. It wasn't easy to have that failed possibility thrown into his face just as quickly as it had been snatched away.

Clarisse seemed to have run out of things to say. After a long look at Percy, she shook her head and turned to exit. "Anyways, get well soon and all that jazz."

_**P**_

Percy found himself ready to vomit right onto Commander Chiron's polished black shoes. He swayed as he stood with absolutely no balance, and one hand was up to his nose trying to stem the steady flow of blood that was getting stronger in time with the throbbing in his temples.

"God _fucking_ damnit," He swore. His left hand gripped a random chair behind him and he leaned on it for balance. "Did you need the entire fucking parade?" Luke's voice chided him in his mind and he turned to the boy standing to people down. "_Fuck off!_" He growled.

All of the technical crew and the trainees looked positively horrified at the ex-pilot's overuse of the F-bomb (in front of the _Commander,_ no less) and had their faces frozen in comical expressions of shock. Only the handful of mechanics in the room stopped in their work of prepping suits and sniggered at the boy.

Chiron himself looked flabbergasted for a short moment before snapping back into urgent mode. "Right." He nodded over to one of the heads of J-Tech, who fixed on her headset and half-turned so as to see her screens and the Rangers at the same time.

"Four signals," She said, reading the charts. "There's a pair of category one Krios' signals eleven miles off this coast. Nine miles away from the Australian south border is a category two. Iapetus, I'm sure, but if it has a knife head then it's an Atlas. And then, less than thirty miles away from one of the Philippine Islands is a glorious category three Hyperion. It's the only signal that isn't moving."

Chiron thought for a moment before facing his recruits. _"Apollo."_

"Yes, sir!" The triplets stepped forward and saluted the commander, looking dead serious.

"You'll be handling the category ones with tech team _Artemis_. Suit up immediately and head down to the carrier, you'll be leaving right away."

"Yes sir!" They hurried back down the stairs from which they had come.

"Because we're unsure what the category two is, I'll be sending both _Ares _and _Hephaestus _to Australia with, although I don't think you'll be needing both, tech teams _Dionysus _and _Demeter._ Do not engage until ordered to do so."

"Yes, sir," The groups shuffled off, leaving about twenty-something Rangers left.

Percy had heard about two words from the entire briefing. He was barely standing on his own two feet and though the nosebleed hade stopped, his irregular heartbeat and breathing had not gone away. He cursed half the Dome for having summoned him when he was in this state.

He glanced over at Luke, who seemed to be having only a little difficulty standing. His vision was sharp and he was breathing normally, and his body was steady.

Green eyes swiveled back to Chiron's moving mouth. He could barely make out the words through the deafening echoes in his ears.

"…taken on by _River Styx_, paired with tech team _Zeus_." Their was confusion among the trainees. _River Styx_? The Jaeger that hadn't seen the surface world for more than four years? Who was going to pilot that thing?

"You _must_ be joking," The short-haired girl stopped typing on her screens to turn back to the group. Her eyes scanned their faces, stopping on Percy's less-than-healthy looking one. Surprise, confusion, worry, and then disbelief all crossed her face in half a second. She repeated her statement.

"This is not the time for me to be making jokes," He told her. "You work with them best, Thalia. Boys, go suit up."

The two boys that moved were finally identified as the pilots. Whispers.

"I am not getting in that thing," Percy said, not loosening his hold on the chair for one second. "I can barely stand. Unless you're ready to lose your oldest Jaeger, one of your best pilots, and an entire Island to a Hundun-type Hyperion," He paused to take a breath and let air reach his brain. "Send actual Rangers."

"Look around you, Perseus." God, he hated it when anyone called him that. "I've used up all my experienced fighters. You two are the only ones left who've fought a category-three before, and I will not jeopardize the lives of innocent trainees when they do not have to be. Suit up."

Luke grabbed Percy's arm and shoved him (while helping him) down the stairs, while the younger boy swore loudly every time they moved too fast. "We don't have time, genius. Hurry it up."

He gave him hell for it, but tried not to hinder them as they moved as fast as they could in the direction of the hangar. They'd have to get changed in there if they wanted to reach Manila before disaster struck.

"Thank the gods," Luke said as Percy's weight was transferred from him to the two nurses waiting inside the carrier for them.

"We're leaving right now," The darker-skinned one told him as he headed off to put on his own gear. She turned her attention back to the half conscious boy in her arms as the other nurse began strapping plated armour onto his extremities. The entire metal structure began to move around them as they were lifted into the air.

The Ranger stood on his own two feet long enough for them to strap on the torso plates tightly. "I can't believe it still fits you," The redhead murmured as they pulled him over to the side of the suit.

He said nothing as he was lifted up, off the ground and into the Jaeger. He could see the inside, now – Luke was already having the nerves attached by other mechanics, looking calm and controlled.

Percy's stomach lurched. He raised a gloved hand to his nose as it bled down the front of his gear and tilted his head back. It was just an excuse for him to look away.


	5. V

**V**

"Percy," She called for the nth time, trying to pry his wrist from his face, but he seemed mesmerized by the view they had of the sky from the windows on the ceiling. She tugged at her sleeve in irritation. They only had nine minutes till the drop, and he hadn't even gotten into the stupid Jaeger yet. "Percy, don't make me have to hit you."

"What are you staring at?" The darker skinned nurse brushed her ponytail behind her shoulder and straightened up after tightening the straps on the Ranger's legs. She knocked twice on his armoured chest when he did not reply. "Percy?"

He didn't say anything but stopped looking up at the ceiling and instead tried to stand on his own two feet. His stomach stayed mercifully put as the platform they were on slowed to a stop. He tightened his hands into fists and stared hard at where he was going to end up – in the pilot's seat – before he stepped into the suit.

The Jaeger was tuned to his weight and so when he stepped into the soles, the metal beneath his feet bent comfortably. His half of the machine hummed to life as his hands and arms were connected to the hanging wires around him.

He stared hard at the screens above the glass in front of him. His stats flew across in white and red writing, telling him things he didn't care to know or understand. He felt goose bumps all over his skin, although he was positively drowning in his own sweat.

"Getting cold feet?" Percy's scowl was enough of an answer for his partner to laugh. "It's alright. We'll probably have nothing to worry about," He assured. They shared a look and a small silence before leaning forwards to set everything in the Jaeger to their usual preferences. "Damnit," Luke muttered, slamming one of the switches down on his side. "They took out my music."

Percy's face broke into a half-smile. He continued to set everything else to how he used to have it, surprised that he still remembered everything. The only thing he changed was the resistance and sensitivity bar – if he was this weak, he was going to need a lighter load to carry.

The two Rangers exhaled in unison and closed their eyes. Their tech team's leader's voice came in through the Jaeger's speakers. "Initiating neural handshake."

A shudder went through the machine before they felt their minds pushed open and shoved through a vacuum. The flood of thoughts burst through their barriers and they were filled with each other's minds before, like after a storm, the waves of their mentalities calmed down.

Both of them let out low growls upon re-entering reality with light slamming them in the face.

Above the gargantuan work of metal, a set of lights began to flash through the carrier. From all sides every mechanic, nurse, supervisor, and anyone else all moved away from the machine and the 'OK' was given to perform the usual checks.

Right arm, left arm, right leg, left leg, head, shoulders, the list went on. The suit was in amazing condition. "This is insane." Luke said, flexing his hand's fingers in front of their face. "I can't believe they fixed everything."

"They did alright," Percy allowed, rolling his own shoulder. The left shoulder of the machine twitched also, and both of them jumped at the unexpected movement. "I might have set my sensitivity a little too high."

"Fix it, quick." The older of the two said, before holding up three fingers to everyone outside. "We're dropping in a bit."

"A bit? Twenty seconds?"

"Eighteen," He replied.

Over the intercom, the girl's voice crackled the speakers to life. "Target is ¾ of a mile in front of you, shore is fifteen behind. Remember, they have docks they actually use. You have to keep it as far away from shore as you possibly can."

"How's the Plasmacaster looking?"

"…" The irritation at being ignored could almost be heard through the speakers. "Your cannons have been restored."

"That's all I needed to hear."

"Don't depend on it." A pause, then, "Dropping in three, two—"

Both boys leaped off the ground and hunched themselves so as not to hit the ceiling, two tonnes of metal following their every move. There was the sharp pain as every nerve was stretched to its limit, before the hurt was replaced by the ever welcome shock of adrenalin.

The ground beneath them slid open to reveal calm waves rolling across a deep blue ocean. They bent their knees as the pressure present just moments before completely disappeared, and they were just floating in the air.

They were ready when they began to fall through, clenching their fists and bending their knees as the water rushed up to meet them.

They landed hard on the manmade reef and grunted in unison. Their weight came back in full force, rattling their teeth and bones. Waves spread out around them "Wow," Luke breathed when he finally had enough air. "Feels different from the simulation, that's for sure."

It took Percy a little longer to regain himself. What the hell did that pod do to him? He was bleeding and falling and feeling dizzy nonstop, and now he was inside an actual fighter. Luke patiently waited for when they were both ready to straighten up and fix their arms at their sides.

"You alright, Percy?"

_Do I look alright to you? _

"No, but it seemed the right time to ask."

"It's the wrong time, asshat."

Both of them leaned forwards at the same time, craning the machine's neck to be able to see what was happening a ways before them. An island – or at least that's what it looked like from here – was slowly floating towards them. It wouldn't be long until it would hit the reef.

"Wonder who that is," Percy muttered sarcastically, rolling his shoulders. The machine squeaked with freshly oiled joints.

"_It's moving towards you."_

"We can see that, Thalia, thanks for the commentary."

"_Do not engage,_" The tech leader continued without missing a beat. After a moment, her voice came through only Percy's side of the suit. _"How're you doing?"_

"Not dead yet," He replied.

"_You sound much better than before. Is it being back in the game?"_

Percy was saved from replying when Luke leaned over and yelled into Percy's side, "DID YOU TURN OFF COMS ON MY SIDE?_"_

"_What makes you think that?" _Suddenly she was speaking from both sides again.

"Shit," was Luke's answer as his eyes widened at the sight before them. In perfect synchronization, the two whipped out their right arm to the side and the chain sword clanked out and locked into place.

A second later they were temporarily deafened by the roar that followed their aggressive action. The Hyperion pushed itself out of the water and set the edges of both feet on the edge of the reef, too close to the Jaeger for comfort. Judging by the amount of algae and undersea plants growing on the beast, it had been floating around for quite some time. And no one ever noticed until now?

They raised the hand with the sword and turned it so that, if sliced downwards, it would cut exactly what it was aiming for. The position gave them a better view of the brand new weapon, but they had no time to gawk at it right now.

The beast blinked its barely visible eyes and roared again, probably hoping to scare them off. Percy resisted the urge to cover his ears with his hands, lest the _Styx _be put into a compromising position. When it became clear that neither of them were going to back up, they prepared themselves for the Titan to charge at them.

It began to lean back, almost as if going into a crouch.

"Thalia," Percy rasped, suddenly feeling like all his bodily disturbances were rushing to him at once. "It has scales on its back. It's not Hyperion."

"_What?"_ Came the startled screech before it was drowned out by the Rangers' own.

The Titan that was already a good ten feet taller than the _River Styx _jumped – _jumped – _at least fifteen feet into the air, leaping the distance between them and sinking its claws into the torso armour as if it was made out of cloth.

The force was enough to send them flying, falling backwards into the water and having them pinned to the shallow irregular reefs. They let out groans as the jerk from first the Titan, then the reef, set many things in their body off.

All around them came up brightly flashing coloured lights, alarming them about something or other that had been affected by either of the two impacts, probably very important things but ones that didn't matter right now as the beast tore off the first layer of their breast plate like pages out of a book.

The sword moved, finally, as it was meant to, but pinned beneath the animal only gave it a scratch beneath its left arm.

A huge warning popped up and blocked about a quarter of their view. PENETRATION: WATER LEVEL RISING.

"Bringing it around!" Luke shouted. Their arm swooped out way to the right with the sword and they slammed it into the side of the Titan, burying the blade deep beneath its ribs. It leaned back in response, giving them enough leeway to be able to sit up a little bit. They brought one knee up, then the other, then tried to kick the monster off.

Rolling out from under the injured giant, they tried to stand again, finding it difficult with the damage they had received in less than thirty seconds. As soon as they resurfaced, the broken connection between them and their tech team was restored.

"—_uck is happening?!"_ The leader could be heard yelling at someone on the other end, sounding more than frantic.

"Thalia, what is that thing?" Luke yelled through the speakers, and they unlocked their second sword on the other side. Percy raised his leg, the left leg, but Luke quickly pushed it back down. "We can't go backwards," He told him. "We'll destroy the area. The cannon could—"

"Yeah, I know," Percy cut him off, looking paler than ever. He could feel the beginning of another nosebleed. He was actually surprised one hadn't started when his head had knocked against the back of his helmet. The animal resurfaced from a darkened pool of water. "Fucking hell. We need a cleanup ready," He said through his speakers.

"It's freaking close," Luke said, staring at the bluish tint making its way through the water, looking equally as menacing as the beast standing in it. This time, they took three agreed steps back.

The not Hyperion took this as a sign of aggression, like everything else, and gave a war cry before lowering down to a crouch once more.

"Is the plasma cannon ready?"

"We didn't make a full swing with the chain sword. It hasn't full charged."

"What's it at?"

Luke peered at the number floating above his right arm. "Fifty six percent."

They crossed both swords as it jumped at them again, only able to latch onto the blades with its steely claws. A steady stream of thick blueness was dripping down his side, too close to the suit for either of their comforts.

They'd only mad a half swoop with the arm, meaning they had to make another to charge the Plasmacaster completely. The cannon was only implanted on Luke's arm side, so no matter how much Percy swung it wouldn't make a difference unless they could somehow stab through the head or the abdomen.

"_Category Four," _Came the much-needed reply as they tried to fend off the beast's jaws. It was a boy, not sounding much older than Percy. _"We've not seen this type before. New model."_

"Joy," Percy replied, his voice barely above a whisper. He took a deep breath, then tried sliding one sword out of the grasp. Wrong move – the category four leaned forward with the loss of half the resistance. They pushed back one leg in order to stay upright. It was trying to push them into the water and destroy the machine. It seemed more intent on destroying them than getting to shore.

Making another quick decision in his mind, Percy mentally thanked the gods for their weak telepathic connection (or whatever it was). They recalled the left chain sword and brought one fist up to meet the jaw of the Titan with a harsh crack, cutting it off mid-roar.

The hold on the Jaeger loosened and they got the beast off with another uppercut.

"Tactical retreat?"

"_No,"_ came the reply from their tech team. _"You guys have already been pushed back five miles. You need to get it _away. _No tactical retreats, especially not this late in the game."_

"Send someone."

"_No time." _

They swore in unison and threw a mindless (but still effective) punch to the Titan's gut. Blood spurted out of its wound, gushing in the water. Waves were starting to get larger as the sun was setting, creating another threat for them to face.

"We're facing a couple hundred gallons of Titan Blue," Percy informed as the beast began to regain its senses. They lowered themselves into the basic defensive stance, one fist in front of the other. It was all the same to the Category Four – it charged again, talons ready to tear them apart, and successfully tore the joints in the left arm, then latched onto the shoulder on Luke's side.

"Motherfucking _shit_balls," Percy said, feeling the pain surge through his own body as well, twice as strong as in Luke's.

"Firing plasma cannon!" The blond gave the warning a half-second before doing so, right into the Titan's neck, decapitating it halfway. To their horror the body continued to move and thrash about, the leathery tail still wrapped around one of _River Styx_'s legs.

"What the hell—" Luke checked the reserves in the caster and found them at twelve percent. With a model as old as this one, it would be at least six or seven minutes before the cannon was recharged.

The sword and cannon were switched out for a normal fist and came down on either sides of the Titan's headless neck. They gripped tightly at the flesh that looked like a fish-mammal mixture. After a short pause the two worked to tear apart the pantomime body in their arms, groaning with effort at the difficulty of ripping the Titan in half.

The muscles and bones came apart irregularly, sending random jerks throughout the process, but about halfway down all movement from the Titan ceased. It fell back into the water, its lifeless tail tied loosely to the leg of the Jaeger.

They rested their hands on their knees and the _River Styx _faithfully followed suit, looking tired and destroyed after being used for the first time in four years.

"We took it down."

"_The carrier's only a couple seconds away, you'll be picked up soon."_

"Did you figure out what it was?" They were shaded by the carrier above them. The bottom slid open and four people leaped down to connect the steel ropes to the Jaeger's shoulders, lifting them into the air. Percy waited for an answer to his question, resisting the urge to run a hand through his hair and disconnect every cable that was keeping them alive right now.

"_We gave it a new name." _Thalia replied, sounding completely drained. Funny how both teams always seemed dead after a confrontation. _"Prometheus."_

"Love it," Luke said, glancing over at Percy. He had a chance now – their brains were completely open, he could just go through his mind—

"You realize I can hear your thoughts, too?" Percy pulled off his helmet in a swoop too quickly for the suit to process and broke the neural connection. Luke groaned and followed suit. When he looked at Percy's face, he found himself more worried than he thought he would be.

"We need to get you back, quick."


	6. VI

**VI**

"This was a bad idea," Luke said, barely audible through his hands.

From somewhere on the other side of the curtain came sounds of a small scuffle. "I fucking _called _it!" The exclamation was followed by sounds of more scuffling and another nurse ran behind the curtain with a cart.

"Lay _down_, Jackson!"

"Someone strap him to the bed!"

"Where's the respirator?"

Although he was freaked out of his mind, Luke couldn't help but laugh at all the commotion his ex-turned-not-really-ex partner was causing, even while in critical condition. It never ceased to amaze him how he could be so quiet during training but so _rowdy_ when it came to sitting still.

"Is he okay?" Came the breathless question as the door slammed open. In walked Zeus' team leader, the tall black-haired techie. She glanced around the waiting room before her eyes stopped on Luke.

He looked like he hadn't slept in forever. There were bags under his bloodshot eyes, and his entire body was hunched over into himself. And, even though it had been hours since they got back to the Dome, he hadn't yet changed out of his suit.

"Are _you _okay?"

He nodded and gave her a not very convincing smile. Beside them, something metal clattered to the ground. Two nurses swore in unison.

"It sounds like it's going well," She said, sitting down on the chair beside him and staring up at the ceiling. "I can't even–" She threw her hands into the air in frustration. "I can't even begin to comprehend why Chiron set _Percy _into the field."

Luke groaned along with her. "That's exactly what _Apollo_ said. They were here a little bit ago."

"Yeah, well, I'm here to take the next Percy-watching shift." She looked pointedly at the blond's uniform. "It's about time for you to go eat something. What are you, his wife?"

"Ha, ha."

"I'm not joking. Move your ass, Castellan." His name rolled off her tongue in her cockney accent and she shoved him off of his chair. "Go, receive sustenance. You can tend to your hubbie later."

"Call me if anything happens," He replied, glancing at the curtain again before walking out of the med ward.

The room became silent except for sounds of shuffling from the nurses and Percy's ragged breathing. "You know, I never imagined you'd become such a good actor."

"I wasn't…acting," He rasped. A few rustles of his numerous covers and then he slid the curtain open with one hand. He was leaning back on the pillows, sweating buckets. The volume of his breathing was still alarming and so was his complexion. She couldn't tell from how high the blankets covered him what parts were injured, and how.

"What happened? His stats were disconnected the second it tackled them."

The main doctor was pulling off his gloves while the other four were working to clean up the mess all around the bed. He tossed the dirty latex onto the tray and began to write on a chart at the foot of the bed. She waited patiently for his response.

"You can ask him. He knows where he hurts," he said, sounding unusually bitter. H tossed the charts onto a tray beneath the bed and left the room, off to tend to more patients.

She black-haired girl frowned at the doorway, confused and a more than a little cranky from sleep deprivation. "So, what's your damage?"

"How rude," The usually rambunctious boy's voice was quieter than even that of the trainees in front of the Commander. "I'm doing fine." He gestured at himself with the ghost of a smile. "Can't you see? I am the personification of fine. I'm better than fine – I'm good."

"What happened?"

"Well, see, we were dispatched to go…fight this Titan, and when…we engaged," The breaks in his speech became more pronounced and he seemed almost glad when she cut him off.

"I'm talking about—"

"Please don't," And that was that. With two words, he silenced his superior. "Miss Grace." With two more, he disavowed all their connections.

She stared at him with anger – the kind that sat in one's stomach for years before suddenly crawling up the throat, giving them something to be ashamed of. Thankfully, she could hold back the verbal bile. "Luke'll be back soon," She half-spat, then strode out of the room determined to take a nap.

He himself was so thankful for being back in a bed that it took him moments to drift into a deep sleep. The sudden silence startled the nurses, who rushed to his side immediately, but it was soon clear that he was too tired to force himself awake any longer.

"His entire sleeping cycle is messed up," The dark-skinned nurse gave a half-glare to her superiors. "He shouldn't have gone into that fight. He shouldn't have done whatever kind of mind melding you were attempting—"

"It wasn't mind melding!"

"—and he shouldn't have returned to the Dome." She finished, not deterred in the least by the interjection of the pony tailed blonde.

The old commander raised a tired eyebrow. "I don't believe you're qualified to make a statement, Miss McLean."

"I'm just stating the facts, sir." She clasped her hands behind her back. "You haven't read his charts, but I've been assigned to him since the day he first entered Jaeger Academy, and I know all of his functions. And sir, what you've been trying to do to him is too much."

"What is he, your boyfriend?"

Piper frowned at one of the extra assistants, an Asian girl who'd just arrived a few days ago. She hadn't cared enough to learn her name. "No. But my boyfriend agrees with every statement I make."

"Oh? So you've discussed this case with an outsider already?" He continued to write on the paper on his desk. "I thought you were aware of our policies."

"I am, sir. And that's why I'm wondering why you're using two of your best Jaegers as guinea pigs on an unwarranted project."

The scrawling stopped. Chiron looked up to face the young woman, a pondering expression on his face. The one on hers didn't change as she stood patiently, waiting for an answer like a soldier. Finally, he sighed. "Again, I must remind you that your status does not give you access to some information."

"But you can."

"But I _won't._" The last part came out like a growl, surprising half of the room. Drew silently excused herself and slipped out of the office, followed by two of the Commander's five personal guards and the red haired nurse. "Return to the medical ward, Piper. I have no wish to speak with you any further."

She clenched and unclenched the hem of her shirt. "Yes, sir." With a stiff nod, she spun on her heel and followed the group out of the room. Outside, the redhead pushed off the wall she was leaning on to fall into step with her coworker.

"Sometimes, I just want to wring that old man's neck." The brunette stopped to kick the wall before they resumed.

"You're not the only one," Her friend agreed.

"Did you see Percy today, Rachel?"

She shook her head. "I haven't seen him since we sent him off yesterday. Haven't had the time."

"He's been getting better," She informed as they turned a corner together. "But his immune system's shot. So is his circulatory and respiratory, if we want to talk about the amount of Titan Blue that got into the _River Styx_."

"Wasn't it coated?"

"Apparently not. Anything that could possibly have done any damage got in, and now we have a half physically dead Percy and an emotionally dead Luke."

"And the machine?"

"The machine's been fixed since an hour after they got back. All the damage was in the joints, and that they could just fix with the spare parts from the out of service Jaegers." Rachel held the door open for the two of them and let Piper pass before her into the main eating area. "Luke better be here."

Rachel's lip twitched upwards. "What are we doing?"

Piper replied with an irritated huff, walking past all the pilots whose attention she didn't really care for. The redhead continued to follow her friend through the rows and also set her sights on trying to find the sandy blond.

They heard him before they saw him.

"What _happened?"_ Heads turned at the sudden exclamation. Luke, halfway through a sandwich, was staring up with some mixture of shock and confusion in his eyes at a figure they couldn't see right away. Upon finding their target, the duo began to step towards them.

"Your bitch happened, that's what," She growled, slamming her tray down and shoving him over to sit next to him. He watched as she angrily devoured half her entire lunch in four bites, then choked it all down with a cup of water.

"Tha…lia," Rachel dumbed down the cheerfulness of her tone upon noticing the strained atmosphere.

"Hey, Rachel," The black-haired techie nodded to the space in front of her, offering her a seat.

"I can't stay long, I have to go run a check on Percy and deliver the news to the head doctor," She said, giving the girl a small smile. "But I think you and Piper might have some to talk about."

"Rachel, Piper," Luke greeted, finishing off his meal.

"Luke," Piper nodded a smile before turning to the older girl with a face looking like she was just bursting to rant.

Before she could begin, Rachel started inconspicuously backing away from the table, not willing to get involved in the drama. Luke inhaled his sandwich and waved at her to stop. "I'm coming with you," he said, tossing his tray in the stack by the door and following her out. "I didn't want to get caught up in that."

"Then we're on the same page," Rachel pulled her hair back into a ponytail as they headed down the dorm hallway. "Don't get me wrong, I love Piper. It's just sometimes…she needs someone in the same mood at the time."

"I understand," He replied. It took him a second to recognize the door they'd stopped in front of. "Why are we here?"

"Percy went back to his room." She climbed up the three steps and knocked twice.

"He was released?" It hadn't looked like he was healed. At all.

The redhead flashed him a small smile. "No." The end of the word was punctuated by a string of unintelligible growls from the other side of the metal door. "Percy? You alright?" She cooed with the sort of sweetness one would use with a child.

A few clanks and a mutter they were sure was a curse later, the door slid open a short crack. When steps sounded walking away from the door they pushed their way in to the dimly lit room. Luke lingered in the doorway, looking around at the poster-covered walls with interest.

The nurse hurried over to the patient and helped him lay back down on his small bed. He was dressed only in pajama pants, his entire torso covered in bandages with a cast strapped to his chest. From what she could see his face was pale, he had bags under his eyes, and he was breathing a little too quickly for comfort. She pushed his legs up on the bed.

"So?" She seemed to perfectly understand his language of grunts and mutters. "You poor baby," She pulled the blankets up to his waist, performing checks so fast that the patient couldn't even tell what was going on before she covered him up to his neck. "I'll be back to check on you in a couple of hours," She whispered.

They heard a breath of acknowledgement as she pushed him out of the room, shutting the door behind them. Luke looked surprised at having been in the room for less than a minute. "Uh…" She glanced up at him from the hole she was burning in the wall. "Are we done already?"

She nodded soundlessly.

"Was it bad?"

A pause, then another nod. It was a tense silence for both of them. Four years and Rachel had forgotten how much Luke cared about his partner; it was difficult to believe that they weren't brothers, because of how they treated one another. And she'd just told him that Percy was in bad condition.

"He's not too bad," She decided to add, wringing her right wrist. A habit she had yet to discard. "But I don't think…" She trailed off.

"Same," Luke replied, completely aware of what she meant.

_**P**_

He hated how thin the doors in this dome were.

When he was at the academy back at the other dome in Los Angeles, every wall was six inches of alloys that made the walls completely soundproof.

Here, it was like listening through cardboard. He'd heard Rachel's voice the moment she'd entered the hallway, recognized Luke's irregular footsteps that always favoured the left leg in an instant. And he could hear them outside right now, too.

Green eyes blinked in a little surprise when the question he'd been expecting his ex-partner to ask did not come up.

_Rachel, how come you baby Percy?_

Maybe he actually _had _changed in the time that they were apart. Was maturity finally starting to show? He hoped not, it would take all the fun out of everything.

His mind trying to distract him wasn't actually distracting him at all and he groaned in frustration. He was cut off mid way by the almost immediate burning in his lungs that intensified when he curled up a bit in reflex. He bit the inside of his cheek, tasting blood, but managed not to damage anything else in his struggle to carry air to his lungs.

The blanket slid down to his mid torso and he was too lazy to move it, not willing to risk another session of pain for some slight warmth. The room was heated enough, on this side of the world in the summer, and he didn't want to wake up a sweaty mess.

He rested his uninjured right arm on the bandaged part by his stomach. He hadn't been directly hit, but the toxic Titan blood had seeped through the plating and made its way to Percy's side of the machine. He could feel the irregularity of his skin beneath his fingertips. He was burnt but at the same time bubbling, as if he had been slow roasted.

Except when he saw it – and he only saw it once – it looked absolutely nothing like human skin. He remembered vomiting upon looking at the effects, actually feeling the acidic pain when the adrenalin wore off and left him in a world of hurt. It was like looking at a pot of blue, overcooked cheese, except it was someone's body. It was his body.

He closed his eyes painfully and tried to force the usual demons back into the corners of his head. He was determined to win this time.


	7. VII

**VII**

He was brought back to reality when she slammed her notepad down on his fingers. With a hiss, he pulled the throbbing digits away from the steel surface and clenched his fists in his lap. _"What?"_ He growled through gritted teeth.

"Don't give me attitude, and listen to the report. You're the only one who hasn't been filled in." He didn't reply, only gave her a dead stare, which was more than enough for her. "The results from the simulation were mostly positive. You are out of shape and your body type has slanted from Ranger Castellan's, but all that can be fixed."

"Mostly positive."

"Yes."

"So all those side effects, that time I spent in a _coma_—"

"Were exactly that: side effects. With some time and hard work, we can work out the kinks. Your bodies will also begin to adjust to the stress and will act accordingly."

"Alright, so – we're just going to continue to use the same pod thing until then?"

"Right." She glanced down at his bandaged chest for the nth time she'd been in the room and he wondered if he should've put on a shirt before letting her into his room. He'd been half asleep when she came a knocking and hadn't really thought the decision through. "Also…"

"Hmm?"

"You'll start visiting the Dome's therapist twice a week, starting tomorrow."

"We have a _therapist_?"

"As of two years ago, yes, which you would have known had you stayed at the Dome."

He ignored her statement and maturely threw a pillow at the wall beside the blonde. "Why do I have to visit a therapist?"

"You're a walking medley of DID, PTSD, BPD, and a whole other list of acronym-D's, and to remain in such an emotional state is detrimental to everyone around you – especially your co-pilot, who thankfully has only been slightly affected by your attentions. You've done well shutting him out."

He wasn't really sure how to take the backhanded compliment.

She was more than a little irritated that she couldn't read her test subject aside from what he blatantly left out for her to see. The other Rangers were either extremely open or just as stereotypical, and actually worked to cooperate with her.

"I don't know how to work with you, Perseus."

His head fell back against the sofa and he stared up at the ceiling. "Just Percy, thanks. I didn't realize we were on a first name basis."

"You're very cut off from the rest of the people here," She continued, "and though I understand you have your reasons we really need you to be present, in body and mind."

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Miss Chase—"

"Annabeth."

"Annabeth," He looked up at her. "I don't know what you want from me."

"I just told you."

"Make it simple."

"Cooperate with us. Work on rediscovering the pilot you once were."

"Young, stupid, and reckless?"

"Wise, smart, and brave."

He chuckled drily. "I don't know who you were watching, but clearly it was not the _Styx_."

"You were both young, I know," She said. "I've been researching you since long before you knew I existed. But I know that you can do what you did before, and you can help save everyone. There aren't many capable Rangers left."

"There's enough."

"There will _never_ be enough." His wandering eyes focused on her bold statement. She took a moment to realize what she said, before continuing. "You were one of the best pilots from such a young age, younger than most of the others back then, and you saved thousands."

"Nothing you're saying applies only to me."

Finally, his words seemed to have an effect on her and she made a noise of frustration. Heat coloured her cheeks. "I've done everything to learn about you so that I can help fix you."

He stood and sidestepped around her to get to the door, then opened it for her. "There's too much that's broken."

_**P**_

"Those were your exact words, correct?"

"Oh gods,"

"Percy, this'll go a hell of a lot faster if you'd leave your antics at the door and just answer my questions."

"It's just – wow," He couldn't put into words his annoyance. "She really told you? The entire conversation?"

"What exactly were you referring to when you said there was 'too much broken'?"

He groaned again, leaning back in the chair he had somehow managed to balance on one metal leg.

He didn't really hate the therapist as much as he said he did. The older man had worked at his old dome back in San Francisco as some sort of advisor for the Rangers. Really, he was just there whenever someone needed to vent about something or get something off their chest.

"I don't remember."

"Try."

"The colour of the walls is too distracting."

The grey-eyed old man paused to look around the room at the statement. The walls were a blinding shade of ugly yellow, but it was the room he had been given and he hadn't had reason to think about it until now. "This is true. Close your eyes."

"And should I also lie on my back while I'm at it?" He added with an eyeroll.

"Since we're going that far you might as well clasp your arms over your stomach. Get into character."

"Right, right," And he did just that. "Where were we?"

"You were telling me what was broken."

"Nothing's broken."

"That's not what you were telling Miss Chase,"

"Says who?"

"Perhaps you would prefer it if she were your 'shrink' instead—"

"No." Silence. "How much are they paying you, Daedalus?"

The old man rubbed the back of his neck. "Better than what they were back in America." He looked over at Percy who was so tall that his legs hung off one side of the couch. "You're almost twice the size you were back then."

"I had a late growth spurt. I think I was nineteen when I shot up nine inches."

"Your short stature made you almost incompatible with Luke Castellan."

"I don't even know _what_ they were thinking when they paired us up together. I was a cocky brat and he couldn't even speak English."

"It's a good thing he wasn't much older than you then, and that you could speak Spanish. I think they made an excellent choice when pairing you two together." He paused. "Although I didn't agree when they put you in the field that quickly."

Percy opened his eyes and orbs of the sea gazed at the advisor. He replied with polite silence.

"There was much discontent after the decision was made. I remember most of the research division went on a strike for two weeks or so."

"I heard about that," A small smile graced his features. "Apparently we didn't get a thing done the entire time. The Commander was completely useless."

'Bless his old, stupid heart, he didn't know how to control the crazies." Both men laughed, then lapsed into a nostalgic silence. "You seem to have something on your mind."

"What a surprise."

"What's your question? I have all the answers." Percy frowned at the ceiling and bit his lip. "I'm not telepathic, Percy, you're going to have to give me more to go on than that."

"Uhm—"

"Oh!" Daedalus suddenly seemed to realize what he'd been trying to ask. "I can't believe in the three months you've been here, you haven't asked anyone yet. He's in the city, working on some sort of project."

"Project?"

"Has your relationship with your brother been strained these past years?"

"What?" The sudden change in subject caught him _way_ off guard and he propped himself up on one elbow.

"Have you even _spoken_ to him, or did you just drop out of your old life completely?" Percy's mouth opened and closed like a fish. "I see." He scribbled something down on the paper in his lap.

"How big is the file you have on me?" Percy glared at the parchment. "Ever since I showed up all I've been seeing are people writing things about my condition, or replies, or reactions. Or lack thereof."

"It's very large," Daedalus answered honestly. "Enormous for someone who's only spent three years total in the Jaeger world. But I guess that explains why it's so immense." The only reaction to the information he got was a low hum. "How's your mother, Percy?"

Another question for which he received an empty half-hearted glare. For the entire two weeks he'd been meeting Percy, he'd been trying to map out the landmine questions – and found that there were too many to count. He flipped to another page and filled one of the remaining empty spaces with the exact wording.

"Your lack of an answer is enough of one for my previous question. So you haven't been keeping up with anyone these past four years? Did you create fake papers to live your life?"

"I worked on the wall."

"And you must be twenty or older to be able to do so. You faked your age."

Percy clenched his jaw, pausing to remember his job. "I didn't need to." Daedalus looked confused. "They took anyone. I was working alongside twelve year olds."

Percy watched passively as a range of emotions danced across the older man's features. He ended up glaring down at his paper with pen in hand while his patient lay back down. The rest of their time was spent in silence, until he was given the okay to leave.

"Thank you," Percy saluted the man before exiting the room and heading down the hallway for dinner.

"Percy!" Said Ranger didn't even look back as the owner of the voice struggled to catch up. "How did it go?"

"Excellent."

The sandy blond searched the blank face then, somehow satisfied, settled for walking cheerfully beside his co-pilot.

"Why are you so happy?"

Luke shrugged, but still gave an answer, a habit that hadn't changed in half a decade. "I have a co-pilot again."

"There is no way you haven't been piloting for the last four years. I even saw you on TV!"

Luke grinned. "You did? When?"

"Not too long ago," They turned a corner and headed towards the double doors to the main eating area. "Last year, maybe? You were doing an interview with a blonde,"

He remembered immediately. "Yeah! Yeah, I mean, I did work on the _Hermes _team while you were gone, but you probably noticed – there weren't that many Titans showing up. And since we didn't match body types, there were always better people to send…" He trailed off. "In the end, we only dropped four times."

"Wow," Percy paused at the door. "Who was your partner?"

"Don't block the doorway, losers."

They were shoved into the line by the well built girl behind them. She nodded at Percy, then crossed her arms. Luke jabbed a thumb in her direction. "This piece of sunshine."

Percy bit his lip to keep from laughing. "You two are drift compatible?"

"Just barely," Clarisse frowned at Luke disapprovingly. "It was the stupidest idea in history, pairing the two of us together."

"I agree." The Spanish boy shuddered at the memories. "They only interviewed us because we were the first male-female pair that wasn't romantically involved to take down a Titan."

"But it was good practice before actually getting a Jaeger of my own," Clarisse pointed out. "The digital types are much lighter and easier to maintain."

Percy nodded with respect to them, then took a tray as they began to get to the food. "The food hasn't gotten any better in four years."

"I don't want to hear _you _say that," The girl behind the counter aimed her knife at him threateningly, then smiled. "Good evening, Percy. How was the session?"

"Spectacular."

She laughed and set down an extra sandwich on his tray. She had always given him extra food, telling him he needed it to grow to normal size – now that he was taller than average, she seemed unable to get rid of the habit. Not that he was complaining any about the extra food.

"Hey Katie, don't I get any extras?"

"You don't get tired of asking, do you?" She shook her head. "Only Percy and the girls get extra food. Boss' orders."

"_You're_ the boss!"

"My orders. Don't hold up the line." Right on cue, Clarisse nudged (coughshovedcough) Luke three feet forwards and almost into Percy's back.

Percy sat at the first empty space he saw, right beside the oldest of the _Apollo_ trio. "Percy," The boy greeted, biting a mega chunk out of his own sandwich. For some reason the food had never seemed to bother him. "So? How was the shrink session? You legally crazy?"

"Not yet." Percy mirrored the action, finishing off half the sandwich with a single chomp. He'd gotten back to the regular way of doing things without the excitement he had as a sixteen year old in the Dome. The soldier life hadn't been so different from life on the wall, anyway, and here they were treated much better. "What about you, how'd you three do yesterday?"

"It was a Category One," Michael Yew replied from across the table. He scooted a little to the side as Clarisse joined them. "It took us less than fifteen minutes."

"Any injuries?"

"Nope." The youngest of the three shook his head. "We were too good for it."

"But I miss using old formations," Michael groaned. "We only got to use _one_ when Chiron sent us out, and even then we didn't really need to."

"So you _want _a situation where we're forced to use our best moves?"

"What else are they for besides taking down blue beasts?" Clarisse let out an amused huff of air at Michael's comment, surprising Percy.

The green-eyed boy looked between the _Ares _and the _Apollo _pilot, and then seemed to come to a surprising conclusion. _"Oh."_

Clarisse glanced up. "What?"

"Nothing, nothing." He finished off the first part of his meal and started on the apple. Changing the subject, "How's the Hephaestus research team doing?"

"Do you mean the entire team, or just your brother?" Percy gave the halfie a dead stare. "Right," He coughed. "They've had a new breakthrough, apparently. They got more Titan parts from the fights from the triple-event, and that helped them some."

"A small group was sent to go negotiate with the Dealer for more access to something like a heart, or a lung, and they're set to return sometime this week. Took you long enough to notice your counterpart was missing."

"I noticed a while ago," He shot back defensively. "I just wasn't sure. Most of them like hanging out in the depths of the engineering sects, anyway, so I thought they were just working on a big project."

"They're always working on a 'big project', but this time it took longer than usual. They were being really stingy and, you know, we don't have the kind of money they're asking for."

Percy hummed in thought, something he found himself doing often. _Sometime this week…_


	8. VIII

**VIII**

Percy stood in front of the wooden door, debating whether or not to knock.

It was cold this time of year and he could already feel the winds picking up as the sun began to disappear behind the snow-capped peaks in the distance. He snuggled his jacket closer to him. After taking a deep breath, he knocked twice on the thick wood. "Hello?"

At first there was no response, and he might even have thought that nobody was home had there not been an open kitchen window from where smells of spices wafted out in thick steamy rivers.

He was about to try again when he heard some clattering, some running, and then a few curses in what he recognized to be French. A moment later the door was thrown open and he was tackled to the ground in a flurry of blue skirts.

"Mo-?"

"My baby," was all he could discern from the woman's incoherent sobbing.

He felt himself smile. "Really, mom," He patted her back and pulled her closer into him, "I didn't think it had been _that_ long." He waited until she'd had enough of laying on top of him before helping them both stand and steady themselves.

She stood back, looked at him, then embraced him again. "You've gotten so big," She squeaked, finally smiling. "Come in, they'll be so happy to see you." With just that statement she pulled him by the wrist up the stairs (he kicked the door shut behind him) and into the kitchen at the top.

"Hola mama," He called to the woman with her back to the stairs as she stirred something in a large pot.

She jumped at the sound of his voice and whirled around. Her eyes widened once they landed on the speaker and she covered her mouth with her hands. "_Mijo_,"

He had more time to prepare for her embrace and was ready for when she jumped into his arms. He lifted her off the ground in a bone crushing hug and laughed as he felt her tears drip down onto his own face. "You too?"

When he set her down she kissed him on both cheeks and his forehead. "_Es__t__ás bien?"_

_He nodded in reply and pulled both women into a tight hug, chuckling as their tears soaked through his sweatshirt._

_He thought he was in the clear until he felt familiar synchronized smacking on the back of his head. He ducked down and groaned. "Mom—"_

_"Perseus Jackson!" She boomed as the darker-skinned woman pulled the boy up by his ear. "Not a single phone call?" She smacked him again. "An email? A text, or maybe a letter?" Smack. "Even a carrier pigeon would've been good enough." She pulled him up by his other ear._ "You couldn't find a single way to tell us that you were alright?"

He didn't reply, only ducked out of their grip and rubbed the back of his head. Both women stared at him for a moment, and then shared a look. The whistling of a teapot on the stove coupled with the sudden dinging of the old oven snapped the two back into their routine.

With a sudden rush both women ran to their respective fields of expertise and waved the boy away. "He's already in your room," The accented woman called over her shoulder.

"Right," Percy nodded, then turned to go down a different hallway.

Every creak in the floorboard, every leak from the ceiling, every corner where the broken windows let in a draft was exactly the same. So little had changed and he found himself relieved that he wouldn't have to spend most of his time with his family trying to get to know them again.

When he got to the door that didn't quite fit in the doorframe, he hesitated. The person he hadn't seen for the longest time was his brother, for half a year more than anyone else. He'd gone on some trip to design the new Mark 5 Jaegers and everything went downhill while he was away.

"Hello—" Percy jumped at the sound of the voice behind him, then was suddenly in the middle of a crushing hug. "Percy?"

"Leo!" Percy hugged back, lifting the smaller boy into the air. "Gods, I haven't seen you in – what – four years?"

"And a half," The curly-haired boy grinned and put his hands on his hips. "I got taller."

"I noticed. So did I, though, so it kind of cancels out." The mecha-elf's pointed ears drooped at the comment. "You've got grease on your face."

"And that's something new?" The end of his sentence was punctuated by the sound of something clanging from below them – probably another one of their mothers' projects gone haywire again. A moment later colorful curses could be heard coming from down the hall in two different languages.

Percy laughed.

He'd been gone for so long and yet he could still hold a conversation with Leo as though they'd just been talking earlier this morning. Their mothers were still getting along, the house hadn't burned down yet, and they were all still alive.

"Well, are you gonna go inside?" Leo gestured to the door to their room. "We haven't changed it since you left, though, so there isn't much to see."

Percy pushed it open with a little bit of effort and blinked to adjust to the amount of bright light shining through the wall of windows. "Still no curtains?"

"Still no curtains."

When they stepped inside the small room Percy ducked to dodge the boxing-glove booby trap that he had correctly assumed would still be there, ready to punch him in the face. To his right was a metal bunk bed with dark blue and bright orange sheets. Beside it was a wide desk buried in papers and pencils.

Diagrams of different Titans and Jaegers covered every patch of wall in sight and from the ceiling hung models of varying sizes. Percy couldn't help but grin at the sight of his unchanged room.

"It's exactly the same."

Leo flopped onto the bottom bunk. "Of course it is. We agreed not to change anything unless we both wanted to. And you weren't here, so…"

And that was all the time he was going to get before _someone_ brought up the elephant in the room. Percy bit his lip, his back still to his step-brother.

"_So…"_ The Latino repeated, tapping his foot against one of the railings on his bed.

"So you honoured our promise." Percy burst out laughing when Leo groaned into his pillow, before they were called back to the kitchen by their mothers. "How've you been?" The green-eyed Ranger closed the door behind him when they exited the room.

They walked side by side, Leo on the side that was a wall of windows, and Percy on the side with all the doors. "Well, you saw, I made it past the Academy."

"Yes, you little genius you," Percy pinched one of his cheeks, just like his stepmother. "You grew up so fast. Only yesterday you were hiding under the bed, cursing your physics professor—"

The smaller boy whacked Percy's hand away. "Remember, I'm still a year older than you."

"And still half a foot shorter," Percy shot back mercilessly, and the boy's untamable hair drooped a little at the comment. "But hey, I'm freakishly large, so it's all good."

"Yeah," The brunet agreed. "What – I mean, you look like you hit puberty. Again. A second time, if that's possible."

"I don't know, I mean," They came into the smoke filled kitchen and sat down at the four person table in the center, undeterred. "I asked around about it but they said my body was just trying to catch up."

"To what?" Esperanza set down a tray full of steaming stuffed corn husks, and Sally followed with drinks and salad. They all sat down and, after a moment, began to eat.

"I'm guessing my mind." Percy choked when his stepmother smacked him on the back of the head and his mother muttered something about 'not talking with your mouth full' under her breath. He swallowed and then continued, "They've been trying out a lot of new things for the Jaeger program, and before I left I just kind of…volunteered."

"You volunteered?"

"I did," He unrolled his second tamale. "They offered a lot of benefits to those who did."

"Like what?"

Percy shrugged a little bit too quickly for anyone's taste. The look in his mothers' eyes made it clear that the topic was not closed.

"I heard you got dropped on your first month back?" Percy could kiss the boy for changing the subject.

"I thought so," Sally looked her son up and down from her seat. "When they were showing clips of the _River Styx_ that morning, I _thought _it was you."

"How could you _not _recognize that reckless, brogue-ish, haphazard fighting style, _mama_?" Leo scooted away from his brother's attack range, laughing at the younger boy's expression.

"But it was severely damaged on the left side. The Drift would've been severely disturbed," Esperanza cut in. "And the amount of Titan Blue that spurted out of it — are you sure you're alright, Percy?" She also began to check him with her eyes.

"I'm fine, mom, _mama_," Percy stuffed his mouth with an unexpectedly large and hot piece of meat and proceeded to burn and choke at the same time. Leo, who seemed to be ready for him, passed his glass to Percy, who took it gratefully and downed the entire thing.

"I cannot _believe _you survived by yourself at the Jaeger Academy," Sally muttered. Leo and his biological mother snorted in perfect synchronization, while the boy in question gave a sheepish smile and continued to eat at the same dangerous speed.

"How long are you here, Percy?"

There were so many questions his stepmother could be asking him at the same time, and so many answers he could give. How long are you here, in this house? In this country? In the Jaeger Corps? How long before you pick up and leave again?

"They want me back at the Dome by Wednesday."

"So three days?" Leo counted on his fingers. Funny how a Titan-obsessed genius like his brother needed to count things like days on his fingers. "Dude, there is so much we need to do before you leave."

"Like what?" The other three chorused, the two parent voices sounding a more than a little concerned.

"Like brother things. _Boy _things," Leo replied. "You wouldn't know."

"Leo, you've been living with us for all twenty-two years of your life."

"_Ouch,"_ Percy laughed.

"I'm pretty sure we know about every 'boy thing' there is. What house are you trying to burn down now?"

"Just catching up, mom. Mostly. Besides, we can't have our actual reunion be at the Dome – there's no privacy."

"I didn't know you cared about such things," Esperanza raised an eyebrow.

"Anyway, three days. I'm due back in a week, and I'm in no hurry to get back."

"I thought you had some kind of breakthrough," The darker skinned woman switched topics easily after years and years of practice. "In the research teams? I heard you discovered a new way to track the Titan's movements and such."

"Kind of." The brunet sipped at his lemonade. "Classified, _mama_."

"We're still ranked higher than you, you know." Sally said, nudging the older boy's leg with her own. "Well, not higher than Percy, but still higher than you."

"Which I still can't believe," Percy fumed, suddenly very heated. "I mean, you guys served for, what, six years? And then you got discharged. And then they moved me up like you guys didn't matter."

"Or maybe because you mattered _more_," The brunette rubbed her stepson's arm. "And it's not really about who matters and who doesn't. There were some people who were more skilled than others and you happened to be one of them."

"Okay, so, back to my breakthrough. We had a breakthrough—"

"_Gasp, no!"_

Leo whacked his brother and continued without missing a beat. "—in the technical division, and research is just taking all the credit. And to be completely honest, the ones who actually caused the sudden advance were a group of unnamed volunteers from four years ago. Hint hint, wink wink, nudge nudge."

"I don't remember any of the tests," Percy said upon seeing his stepmother's excited expression. "I'm sorry. I barely even remember the events themselves, but I'm pretty sure that there was an entire period of time where all I was doing was tests, tests, tests."

"That's weird." His brother chewed his straw thoughtfully.

Percy's phone vibrated in his pocket and he excused himself promptly, as if he had been waiting for this call.

_**P**_

"Why the hell are you calling me so early?"

"_Is that any way to talk to a woman?"_

"I literally got home less than an hour ago. It's the middle of dinner time right now. I'm in fricking El Salvador."

"'_Fricking'?"_ She laughed.

"I am in my mothers' house."

"_So you're censoring yourself?"_

"Speak, woman. What do you want?"

"_Well you need to come back now. Like right now."_

"Right right now?"

"_Right now right now."_

"God fucking dammit," He hissed, and again laughter echoed over the terrible connection.

"_I thought there was no cursing in your mothers' house?"_

"Who wants me?"

"_Ooh Percy, so ready to give up your body—"_

"For real, though – did Chiron call? Because I specifically told him _not_ to fucking call."

"_Orders are orders, and—"_

"—and you're just a mindless machine willing to follow them. I'll be there tomorrow."

"_Uh, no you won't. They sent a team to pick you up."_

"What? Why?"

"_Because the last time we had this conversation you went AWOL for four years. Four. Years. Get your shit together and they're already there so I'm hanging up now. Bye asshole."_

The phone clicked as he was in the middle of saying "Bye Thalia" and the doorbell rang. "Great." He was jogging down the hallway when he bumped into his biological mother, who looked so completely pale he was worried she might faint right there.

"It's for you," She breathed with a faint smile, turning and leading him slowly into the room where his least favourite vice captain was standing in the doorway, flanked by the only nurses at the Dome who didn't hate treating him.

"We need to take Leo, too."

"Both of them were told they'd have more time here," Esperanza spoke in half English, half Spanish. "Why are you taking them so early?"

Octavian looked to the Native American beside him for translation. After rolling her eyes and muttering 'racist', she replied in Spanish, "I'm sorry – it's just that the research division has found something they need the guys for."

"Percy isn't in the research division." Leo gave her a questioning, worried look. "Why do they need him?"

Piper glanced up at the green-eyed boy who towered over his older brother, standing behind his mother. "If I knew, Se_ñora, I would tell you immediately. As it happens the only ones that have any idea what's going on are six people, none of which had any intention of sharing when I asked."_

"That's an interesting way of running things." Sally didn't sound as interested as she sounded angry, and worried. "And they need to leave now?"

"Right now," The redhead replied, finally looking up from the device on her wrist to speak. The trio stepped out of the house and began to walk at a slow pace down the narrow streets, navigating their way through the crowds so as to stay together and in sight.

It was silent for all of a minute. "I guess that's it then." Percy predictably was the first to break the silence. He could never handle an awkward room. "Although it was only an hour, thanks for having me."

"We'll be back soon," Leo promised. He was always making promises. But unlike Percy, he managed to keep them.


End file.
